LANDOVER, Md. — Jayden Daniels bounced on the ball of his feet like a prize fighter for 12.79 seconds, scrambling to avoid what few pass rushers the Bears sent at him long after the game clock had expired Sunday night.
The Commanders quarterback reached back at his own 34-yard line and heaved what would become the most famous Hail Mary seen in this area since a high school-aged Caleb Williams threw one six years ago to win the conference championship.
Williams, the Bears’ No. 1 overall pick, watched Daniels from the Bears’ sideline, still riding a high from giving his team its first lead of the game with just 25 seconds to play. He stood to coach Matt Eberflus’ left and in front of two teammates and craned his neck to watch the ball arc across almost two-thirds of the playing field.
Daniels’ throw landed at the 2-yard line, where a mosh pit full of players leaped and tipped it backward. Receiver Noah Brown, standing in the end zone below the first M in Commanders, caught the tip with no one near him for the 52-yard touchdown — and a 18-15 win.
“Definitely thought we were going to get it,” Williams said. “That was my emotion. Still believing, still happy in the moment. Then obviously it gets tipped and he catches it.”
Eberflus said it was a “hard way to lose.” The locker room afterward was one of stunned silence.
“You don’t really believe your eyes at the time,” receiver Keenan Allen said.
Williams showed little emotion at first before he turned to walk down the Bears sideline — and away from the play — and began screaming. It was bad luck, sure, but also bad execution: Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had his back to the snap at first because he was too busy taunting Commanders fans. He ran toward the mosh pit later than his teammates.
Had the Bears rushed more than three defenders, they wouldn’t have allowed Daniels to hold the ball 12.79 seconds, the longest any quarterback had before a touchdown since at least 2016.The Bears were content, too, to give up completions of 11 and 13 yards in the final seconds, which got Daniels within Hail Mary range.
In his homecoming, Williams was outdueled by the player drafted one slot below him. It was just like his 53-yard pass to beat DeMatha in 2018, but in reverse.
“It’s funny enough — It happened, actually, just like that,” Williams said. “I threw an out ball, I threw a Hail Mary and they did the same thing. Weird. Definitely weird.”
And crushing. Commanders fans stayed inside Northwest Stadium for 20 minutes afterward, singing and celebrating and crackling with energy. Some even threw their hats in the air. Daniels — who nursed a ribs injury all week and wasn’t cleared to play until Sunday — has energized their fan base to the point where it feels like anything’s possible.
“It was great for, I mean, the whole city,” Daniels said.
That’s what was supposed to happen in Chicago with Williams. It may yet. But Daniels has been the better quarterback through eight weeks.
He was Sunday, too. Daniels went 21-for-38 for 326 yards and ran eight times for 52 yards.
Williams went 10-for-24 for 131 yards and a 59.5 passer rating that was his worst since Week 2.
Williams went 3-for-8 for 33 yards in the first half and made mistakes that, even for a rookie, were inexcusable: On third-and-2 early in the second quarter, Williams scrambled and slid to the ground a yard short of the sticks. The Bears punted.
“I should have just taken the hit and fell forward,” he said.
Later in the quarter, the Bears faced fourth-and-1 and threw a smoke pass to receiver DJ Moore, who was tackled immediately. The Commanders took over at the Bears’ 40 and eventually kicked a field goal.
Finally, on third-and-12 from the Commanders 25 with a little more than one minute to play in the first half, Williams took a sack for a loss of 15 yards that took the Bears out of field goal position. Williams was in the grasp of a defender but ran backward to try to break away. By doing so, Williams forced the Bears to punt rather than try a field goal.
“The toughest part about the job is you want to go out there and make plays and do special things — but you also have to understand that’s the play,” he said.
The Bears were held scoreless until the last minute of the third quarter, when D’Andre Swift broke a 56-yard run to pull within five of a Commanders team that had four field goals.
The Bears had a chance to take the lead with 6:21 left in the game, only for coordinator Shane Waldron to call for a handoff to guard-turned-parttime-fullback Doug Kramer on third-and-goal at the 1. Williams didn’t hand it cleanly and Kramer dropped the ball, and the Commanders recovered it at the 3.
After the Bears forced a three-and-out, Williams completed a 16-yard pass to Rome Odunze on third-and-10 and a 22-yard pass to Allen on second-and-5, and eventually had fourth-and-3 at the 12. His pass to Keenan Allen drew pass interference from Benjamin St.-Juste in the end zone. Roschon Johnson scored on second-and-goal from the 1 with 27 seconds left, and Cole Kmet caught a shovel pass for the two-point conversion to go up two.
Then came the Hail Mary.
“A heart-wrenching play,” Williams said.